India sets new single-day coronavirus deaths record
The second worst-hit nation in the world reported 1,133 Covid-19 fatalities on Tuesday, a number no country has witnessed since the pandemic began.
India has reported a record high single-day number of Covid-19 deaths with 1,133 patients having succumbed to the disease on Tuesday, taking the country's death toll up to 72,775 since the start of the pandemic.
The country has recently been reporting the highest numbers of new cases anywhere in the world on a daily basis, adding around two million new confirmed Covid-19 cases over the past month alone. The overall caseload in India has risen to nearly 4.3 million cases - second to only the US - although there is a relatively good recovery rate in the country with some 3.3 million people recovered from the infection.
India's testing capacity could explain surge in cases
The recent spikes in cases might be the result of the rising testing capacity in India as more than a million tests are being conducted every day in the world's second most-populous nation. Another factor that might be playing a role in the caseload increase is the easing of Covid-19 restrictions across the country, with India entering Stage 4 lockdown in a bid to mitigate the pandemic effect on its economy.
India's economy has been seriously hit by the pandemic and is currently considered the worst among the world's biggest economies after shedding almost 24% during the second quarter of the year. Millions of jobs have also been lost since the imposition of the first lockdown in March.